The children have taking part opportunities to go walks in the local environment to stimulate their senses.  They have been listening out for different sounds, identifying smells and using their sense of touch to explore.

Using a blindfold to restrict their sense of sight, the children have been developing their sense of touch, smell and taste as they participated in a fruit tasting activity. By feeling and touching a variety of textures, the children have been using descriptive language to talk about what they could taste, feel and smell.

The children have also had opportunities to develop their understanding of how their senses can support their learning within baking and cooking experiences while they were, tasting, smelling, touching and preparing the foods . This has also allowed  the children to develop their understanding of numbers and understand that they represent quantities when counting out the ingredients. The little chefs have been making a variety of foods such as pizza, macaroni cheese, healthy hearty soups, cookies, biscuits and even turned their hands to milkshakes, fruit smoothies and hot chocolate.

Children have also been exploring the workbench and building blocks area, where they have shown a keen interest in making towers and castles. The children have been using mathematical language, “the last number I have counted..” and are developing their understanding that numbers represent quantities when counting out how many blocks they will need to make their castles.

The children used a range of different senses whilst exploring with the play dough, gloop and marbling ink. The children added spices like ginger, cinnamon and chocolate powder to the play dough to stimulate their sense of smell correctly identifying the different spices etc. within the play dough, informing the practitioner  “it smells like chocolate” .  They also explored their sense of touch as they described the play dough being “soft”. The children also used descriptive language to described the gloop as being “slimy”.  The children also used their sense of sight asthey described the paint as “bright and colourful”.

Forest School

The children, both morning and afternoon, have completed a five week block of Forest School sessions with a Family Learning session ending the block. The children have been learning skills for life within these outdoor learning sessions. These skills include fishing, tree identification, bug hunting and den building just to name a few experiences that were on offer. Due to the winter weather fast approaching Forest School will recommence nearer February 2016 when a new group of children will be invited to participate in Forest School sessions.

Both Nicola and Susan would like to thank both the children, parents and grandparents who participated in the  day to day organising of their children and for participating in the family learning sessions.